Squad conquest - early critiques

This game mode is simply way too close to domination, and not what people are looking to play on. They want conquest small, and this is an attempt at a tighter version of it, but this game mode eliminates what makes conquest actually conquest due to the flag designs and mechanics.

-To start on a positive, the flag layouts are optimal, the triangle format seems to be the best choice unless you make the map extremely wide where a linear format would not result in too easy of a lockdown (see Arica Harbor from BC2 conquest).

-The flag capture zones are too small and open, if an enemy wants to come to a flag they see is being captured, they can easily find you and pick you off. This is particularly relevant when the enemy tank comes to a flag, and on a select few flags that are easily exposed.

-Flag capture times are way too fast, it's like capturing a domination flag. The excitement of conquest is to take an enemy flag and defend your position as the enemy tries to contest your takeover, while using teamwork to hold a flag down with your squad and/or team. In squad conquest, the experience plays like domination where you take a flag very fast, go on the outskirts around the map and ignore the objective.

-Trying to contest a flag that an enemy is taking is almost pointless unless it's at the end of the game; The flags get taken so quickly that it's better to just wait for the enemy to move off it, kill them and then take the flag yourself. The flag will be neutralized so fast that you don't have to worry about spawns. Pretty much domination.

Each flag should be like it's own fortification, have it's own layout and way of playing on it. There are very few flags that actually have this, "A" on Arras conquest is a decent example of this, although the spawns out in the open are less than desirable. All of these things were employed in a game designed around conquest small, Bad Company 2. Great examples of this from BC2 are conquest "small" on Arica Harbor and Laguna Alta. It is beyond me why DICE is struggling to recreate the magic that makes Battlefield the game that so many love.

1

Comments

I would disagree, on ARRAS I have been scared like crazy because of how little time passes on the flag. The flag time is good imo and also this game takes alot of teamwork thanks to tanks being in the game.
As a medic and support main I basically feel like I have to carry the team. I have revive players on a point so someone can defend it, and I have to have a ammo crate so assaults can pop off.
I do not think its pointless to contest flags since this game mode has so many close modes

My experience differ from yours; I see much more flag defending here, than on regular Conquest. I’ve had several rounds where my squad (randoms) stay on B on Arras, fortify the area, put a spawn beacon nearby, and dig in. With the enemy team going uphill, regardless of which side they approach, it’s great fun to defend the flag there. Same goes for Rotterdam, where I’ve seen my team lock down the alleys.

Wait until the enemy team has capped a flag, and moved on? You could do that. If the enemy team actually move on. Again, I see much more defending here, than I usually see on regular Conquest.

I vastly prefer Squad Conquest to Domination, it feels way more tactical, and my games have mostly been above average in that regard, so far.

I thought I wouldn’t like this, because I saw it as a new attempt at a competitive game mode, a la Incursions, and I’m certainly not a competitive player, but I’ve had great fun playing it.

You make some good points as to the issues that Squad Conquest has as well as praise for the flag layout. Some of the ways DICE could improve the mode:

Increase the flag capture zone size on a case by case basis for each flag.

Increase the player count to 24 players in order to allow players to be in the action more often. While 8v8 is good for a competitive game mode, 12v12 would be a better fit for public matches given the size of the Squad Conquest map layouts.

Squad Conquest has some potential should DICE choose to work on the mode some and improve it.

I would disagree, on ARRAS I have been scared like crazy because of how little time passes on the flag. The flag time is good imo and also this game takes alot of teamwork thanks to tanks being in the game.
As a medic and support main I basically feel like I have to carry the team. I have revive players on a point so someone can defend it, and I have to have a ammo crate so assaults can pop off.
I do not think its pointless to contest flags since this game mode has so many close modes

When you are taking a flag with 2-3 people the capture goes down super fast, I'm not sure what you're talking about. Maybe stand closer to the flag to increase the speed?

I don't know what you mean by your last comment. By contest flags I mean when you see one of your team's flags going down, just wait for enemies to come off the flag and take them out. While in the other Battlefield's like Bad Company 2, the entire flag would be a fortified thing that you could go inside and take out enemies like a base infiltration.

You make some good points as to the issues that Squad Conquest has as well as praise for the flag layout. Some of the ways DICE could improve the mode:

Increase the flag capture zone size on a case by case basis for each flag.

Increase the player count to 24 players in order to allow players to be in the action more often. While 8v8 is good for a competitive game mode, 12v12 would be a better fit for public matches given the size of the Squad Conquest map layouts.

Squad Conquest has some potential should DICE choose to work on the mode some and improve it.

Agreed, 12v12 was the max size on Bad Company 2 for the consoles and it worked wonderfully. There was plenty of competitive play with 8v8 being the smallest variant, and it was the most exciting play I've had in this franchise. I know a lot of people out there think the same.

It's possibly the most underwhelming and worst game mode I've ever played! It's basically domination but worse. I could also swear that in the patch notes they said that respawning would only be possible on your home flag, NOT on captured flags but that doesn't seem to be true. Unless I misread it or got confused.

But basically, battlefield for me is large scale conquest or rush modes. The only deivation from that is TDM or gun mode from BF3 if you fancy something calmer!

Rotterdam in this mode is literally pointless, it's just a linear tunnel of death. Seeing as barely anybody plays in squads (console at least) it's impossible to get any attacks co-ordinated. Nobody is on their mic and the new changes to killcam make any form of tactics redundant, as soon as you hole up and get a good spot you get the crap blasted out of your defensive position as everybody knows where you are.

I would disagree, on ARRAS I have been scared like crazy because of how little time passes on the flag. The flag time is good imo and also this game takes alot of teamwork thanks to tanks being in the game.
As a medic and support main I basically feel like I have to carry the team. I have revive players on a point so someone can defend it, and I have to have a ammo crate so assaults can pop off.
I do not think its pointless to contest flags since this game mode has so many close modes

When you are taking a flag with 2-3 people the capture goes down super fast, I'm not sure what you're talking about. Maybe stand closer to the flag to increase the speed?

I don't know what you mean by your last comment. By contest flags I mean when you see one of your team's flags going down, just wait for enemies to come off the flag and take them out. While in the other Battlefield's like Bad Company 2, the entire flag would be a fortified thing that you could go inside and take out enemies like a base infiltration.

Ah ok my bad, well like another commenr said I think making it 12v12 or 24v24 would make it more competitive. The game isnt awful just needs some tweaks IMO.

I would disagree, on ARRAS I have been scared like crazy because of how little time passes on the flag. The flag time is good imo and also this game takes alot of teamwork thanks to tanks being in the game.
As a medic and support main I basically feel like I have to carry the team. I have revive players on a point so someone can defend it, and I have to have a ammo crate so assaults can pop off.
I do not think its pointless to contest flags since this game mode has so many close modes

When you are taking a flag with 2-3 people the capture goes down super fast, I'm not sure what you're talking about. Maybe stand closer to the flag to increase the speed?

I don't know what you mean by your last comment. By contest flags I mean when you see one of your team's flags going down, just wait for enemies to come off the flag and take them out. While in the other Battlefield's like Bad Company 2, the entire flag would be a fortified thing that you could go inside and take out enemies like a base infiltration.

Ah ok my bad, well like another commenr said I think making it 12v12 or 24v24 would make it more competitive. The game isnt awful just needs some tweaks IMO.

I don't believe simply adding players to this squad conquest is going to make it any better. It will probably make it the same or worse. They need to just go to conquest small and design it around 12v12 or maybe even 16v16 as the max player count, with 8v8 to 12v12 as the ideal setting. This is the layout and model the majority loves.

I like the smaller scale of the warfare, easier to react to everything really.

I don't like the fact that it's mostly populated by high-tier players who out-class me in in skill and in eqipment, because I can't put in the same hours to learn the game due to to IRL reasons as they do. Being target practice for high-tier folks just isn't fun and detracts from my experience, some player level based matchmaking would be great.

It's possibly the most underwhelming and worst game mode I've ever played! It's basically domination but worse. I could also swear that in the patch notes they said that respawning would only be possible on your home flag, NOT on captured flags but that doesn't seem to be true. Unless I misread it or got confused.

But basically, battlefield for me is large scale conquest or rush modes. The only deivation from that is TDM or gun mode from BF3 if you fancy something calmer!

Rotterdam in this mode is literally pointless, it's just a linear tunnel of death. Seeing as barely anybody plays in squads (console at least) it's impossible to get any attacks co-ordinated. Nobody is on their mic and the new changes to killcam make any form of tactics redundant, as soon as you hole up and get a good spot you get the crap blasted out of your defensive position as everybody knows where you are.

I give it 1 out of 10, purely for not actually being buggy!

You didn’t misread, but that was not the correct info. Just like in Conquest, you can spawn on the flags in Squad Conquest, unlike Domination.

I’m playing on console, and I see some decent teamplay. I also see people not caring, but that’s Battlefield for you. I don’t agree at all with your claim that tactics are redundant, the squads that actually work together are so much more efficient than those who don’t. A good defense isn’t dependent on whether the enemy knows where you are or not. The kill cam doesn’t change anything in this regard.

So far I enjoy it..it’s quick and fun..I found the team that’s actually moving around the map most usually wins..the team that sits in random spots picking off players usually loses..the flag capture area is fine..tanks don’t last long due to the fact 6 out of the 8 players are usually all assaults..I managed to get the new medic smg and it’s fun reminds me of the mp18 from bf1..a group of friends will make this mode a cake walk..with randoms it’s a little more challenging.

The first thing I notice in my first 3 rounds is that it is really one sided. One team just totally dominates the other one

Naturally, it is a more competitive mode. One player can make a real impact and if you play with friends you will easily dominate over the other team. If people get too frustrated and leave the game becomes more lopsided, because of the downtime until a new player joins. When you are afk, get disconnected or even just any downtime will reduce your team's effectiveness by 12,5%. That is indeed huge. The mode is just designed with dedication in mind, and herein lies the problem, although I would say as a competitive mode it works fine, it surely is more tactical and you can actually defend flags or hold positions, too. With vehicles it also offers a better "Battlefield"-experience than Domination or TDM, and is still infantry-focused.

I find it really funny how the people who dont like it are mostly from conquest. Conquest is so casual and filled with casuals this one is the ranked equivalent definelty takes alot more skill to play and understanding when to push OBJs, when to place pressure on that third point so they dont push the other two or when to cut off the enemy in their push and understanding where they are coming from. Having some good games right from the start because I'm use to domination yall just arent and are so quick to hate it cause you arent used to playing a game mode that requires alot more personal skill that builds into the squads and how you all perform.

The main problem I am seeing, is stat chasers (who would have thought). If you are losing by 20 tickets, people can start to leave the game (without penalty?) making it much more difficult due to the small team size, once one leaves this soon spreads.